US Corn Crush Margins Narrow
Declining ethanol prices have tightened profit margins for US corn based ethanol producers. The elasticity of corn demand to ethanol crush margins is greatly reduced by government subsidies such as the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) which mandates the blending of a certain volume of renewable fuels (including corn ethanol) into gasoline and diesel
Nevertheless, corn used in fuel production demand elasticity is significantly greater than zero. Corn used in fuel production can be expected to fall modestly short of the USDA’s September projection if margins remain tight beyond the early stage of the 2024/2025 crop year.
| US Corn Crush Margins $/Bu. | |||||
| Week ending | Margin $/Bu. | Ethanol $/Gallon | 10 % Dist Grain $/ton | Corn $Bu | year |
| 10/5/2017 | $1.95 | $1.50 | $105 | $3.18 | 2017 |
| 10/5/2018 | $1.26 | $1.19 | $130 | $3.23 | 2018 |
| 10/5/2019 | $1.57 | $1.51 | $132 | $3.83 | 2019 |
| 10/4/2020 | $1.62 | $1.39 | $159 | $3.68 | 2020 |
| 10/5/2021 | $2.96 | $2.34 | $191 | $5.29 | 2021 |
| 10/5/2022 | $1.63 | $2.29 | $241 | $6.88 | 2022 |
| 10/5/2023 | $3.63 | $2.39 | $199 | $4.82 | 2023 |
| 10/4/2024 | $2.09 | $1.68 | $156 | $3.99 | 2024 |
| Price Data based on Central Illinois. | |||||